Finger Lakes Woodturners A Chapter of The American Association of Woodturners

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Finger Lakes Woodturners A Chapter of The American Association of Woodturners From The Chair December 2014 I hope that everyone was able to attend last month s great demonstration on Tops by Mike

Tops are a great Mark Mazzo project for everyone to try regardless of skill level and now you know how to turn one - just in time for the Holiday gift giving season.

At this time of year, the tops are always a hit and Jim Hotaling is counting on all FLWT members to contribute at least a few tops for the cause.

1 Finger Lakes Woodturners A Chapter of The American Association of Woodturners From The Chair December 2014 I hope that everyone was able to attend last month s great demonstration on Tops by Mike Brawley. I bet you never knew so many types of tops existed! Thanks to Mike for the education on Tops and how to turn them. Tops are a great Mark Mazzo project for everyone to try regardless of skill level and now you know how to turn one - just in time for the Holiday gift giving season. Let s see if we can have some great examples of Tops to view at our next meeting! Also, please don t forget that we are always collecting spinning tops to donate to children in various organizations. At this time of year, the tops are always a hit and Jim Hotaling is counting on all FLWT members to contribute at least a few tops for the cause. Remember that turning tops is a great skill-builder for all kinds of turning tool control. This month we will once again have our annual Holiday party at the pre-meeting. The club will be providing Cider and we are counting on you to bring some treats to share. In previous years, this event has been a rousing success and it gives everyone a little extra time to share ideas, new work and Holiday cheer. Don t miss it! Our own Terry Lund will be the feature demonstrator for this month s meeting. Terry will be showing us all how to turn a Pepper Mill. Many of you have already participated in the group buy for mechanisms so after Terry s demonstration you will be ready to turn your own! Thanks to Terry for taking the initiative to organize the group buy of Pepper Mill mechanisms for this demonstration. Our season now in full swing, please remember to renew your memberships if you have not already done so either via PayPal on the website or via application and check through our Treasurer. As of January 1 the club communications will only be going out to paid members. I look forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting until then, keep turning and keep learning! --Mark Page Contents 1 From the Chair by Mark Mazzo 2 Schedule Tops and More Tops Woodworkers Resource 3 Mike Brawley Spinning Tops Demo 4 Mike Brawley Picture Essay of Demo 5 Tops from Mike Brawley s Collection 6 Members Show and Share 7 8 Events Mentors Sponsors Board of Directors 1

Schedule It s That Time Of The Year-Woodturners Resource FLWT meetings are held from 6:45 to 9:00 PM (pre-meeting Show and Share starts at 6:00 PM) on the 3rd Thursday of the month each month.

2 Schedule It s That Time Of The Year-Woodturners Resource FLWT meetings are held from 6:45 to 9:00 PM (pre-meeting Show and Share starts at 6:00 PM) on the 3rd Thursday of the month each month. Our meetings are held at the Isaac Heating and Air Conditioning University classroom, 180 Charlotte St, Rochester, For more information, go to December January February March April May Terry Lund Pepper Mill Cliff Weatherell Suspended Bowl Dan Meyerhoefer Finial Box Sam Tischler Lamp Beth Ireland (National Turner) Turning Outside The Box National Speaker (Friday night meeting, Saturday demo, Sunday Workshop) see Jim Hotaling Fluting Tops and More Tops - Jim Hotaling At our November meeting, we got off to a good start in reaching our goal of turning 300 tops for Golisano Children' hospital and Hillside Children' Center; 204 tops were turned in! If you were not at the November meeting, it was announced that a raffle ticket would be issued for every five tops a member turned in. Two drawings would be held with each drawing a reward of $ A Woodturners Resource By Terry Lund The World of Woodturners web site was originally organized by Herman de Vries (aka Papa Herm) in November 2001 and it was hosted on the myfamily.com web site. Ancestry.com how runs the myfamily.com site decided to discontinue operation of myfamily.com about 6 months ago, so a team of WoW members led by Herm de Vries organized a project to construct a new web site which is now owned and operated by WoW. A login account is required to gain access to the individual member postings and pictures but the new site does have a "public gallery" that anyone can view, which contains a sub-set of member images (designated as "public" by each member as desired). There's a huge range of turned items including a variety of functional pieces as well as an incredible range of artistic pieces. There is also a "Family Talks" discussion thread area which provides guidance and information on a wide range of topics related to turning, finishing, etc. of our craft. Many of the archives from the old WoW site have been made available through the new site, so there's a lot of information on virtually any aspect of woodturning and related topics (photography, finishing, etc). Any member of WoW can generate an invitation to new members. I don't know which other members of FLWT might be members, but I am sure there are several, and I would be glad to generate an invitation for anyone who is interested. 2

3 Mike Brawley Spinning Tops By Bruce Impey Mike Brawley presented Tops 101 at the FLWT November meeting. I was especially looking forward to this demonstration as Mike s workshop last year in at his home was the first actual hands on instruction I ve ever had at turning. Although I was a miserable student, he is a patient and meticulous teacher and I think of something he said in that workshop every time I am at the lathe. Mike is interested in toys, especially Folk Toys, which includes tops. Folk toys are something made individually for children at play, as in something your grandfather should have made for you. It s a great tradition and every year there s a new crop of six year olds who have no idea what it is or how it works. Why should you make something for kids? They will have something unique that no other kid has, or can buy. It continues a craft tradition, even if it is one that may take 60 years to resurface. Mike brought dozens of different tops of all kinds to show from his collection. What is a top? Anything that spins. What is a good top? One that works well, looks good, is easy to spin and is durable. His challenge project is a top with a string. Mike explained top dynamics simplified: Short and fat is better than tall and skinny. For tops with string, braided string such as masonry string is better than standard twisted string. Mike lies to decorate with acrylic paint. As for points, wooden is OK as are plastic points. For a very durable point, 1/8 brass rod is good. Mike uses Gorilla glue to attach metal points. Finger Tops are popular. A diameter of 1 ¾ is pretty big for a finger top. Their stems can vary a lot. Palm Tops are bigger tops with a longer stem. Stems are all about 3/8 diameter. There are Throwing Tops and Whipping Tops, which are started by hand and then accelerated with a whip (rawhide on a stick). Drop Tops are wound up with a string and then released by spreading the string ends. We saw a Whistling Top, a Steel Puck Top and a fascinating Japanese Top with two discs that chase each other around the rim of the top. For String Tops, some have a separate yoke for starting and some have an integral hoop on the stem. Mike uses jigs for drilling holes for the string in the stem and handle. Mike demonstrated turning a string top. He uses a wide parting tool to rough out the taper and then shapes the tip as much as possible while it is still supported by the tailstock. Good dowel is added for the stem. In the demo, Mike used a Beall collet to hold the top by the stem on the headstock, but showed us the homemade wooden collet he has long used. A centering drill or countersink drill bit is good for starting the hole for inserting a tip because it doesn t wander. The hole is then completed to a depth of ½ with a regular 1/ drill bit. For gift giving, Mike likes to give such things at times when a gift is not expected, as otherwise they might get lost in the procession. I have since used this advice when my grandson visited over Thanksgiving. 3

4 Picture Essay of Mike Brawley s Spinning Tops Demo 4

5 Spinning Tops from Mike Brawley s Collection 5

6 Members Show and Share Gary Russell Erwin Tschanz Jim Echter Jim Hotaling Sam Tischler Dave Harp Bill McColgin Dave Gilbert Harry Beaver Ed Lehman 6

7 EVENTS AND MENTOR CONTACTS Local and National Woodturning Events of Interest Year/Date Event For More Information June, AAW Symposium Pittsburg, PA March 28-29, 2015 Totally Turning- Saratoga Springs City Center Mentor Contacts 1 Name Day Tel Eve Tel Turning Skills / Specialty Doug Crittenden cleo99@frontiernet.net General turning Ed DeMay edemay@rochester.rr.com Bowl turning, dust collection Ward Donahue Jim Echter wddonah@frontiernet.net jechter@rochester.rr.com Spindle & hollow turning, coring, sharpening Spindle & faceplate turning, sharpening David Gould D2sGould@aol.com Bowls, plates and hollow-forms Jim Hotaling jhotaling2198@aol.com Christmas ornaments Ed Lehman eljw@rochester.rr.com General turning Ralph Mosher rmosher@rochester.rr.com Dale Osborne (315) (315) dborn3@rochester.rr.com Gary Russell cngrussell@gmail.com Erwin A. Tschanz (Dec Mar) (Dec Mar) Bowl turning, Boxes, Sharpening, Tool control General turning General turning, bowls, ornaments, finials Historical, bowls, plates, goblets, boxes, bone, antler 1. Here s a great way for you to improve your turning skills. FLWT has award winning and expert turners who, at no cost, are willing to share their expertise oneto-one with other club members. A mentoring relationship might be as simple as getting a mentor s advice in a one time conversation. Or, it might include regular hands-on sessions over a lathe. The exact nature is up to you and your mentor. If you feel you could benefit from mentoring, organize your thoughts about your needs and contact an appropriate volunteer mentor above to determine if he or she is a match and available. 7

SPONSORS FLWT members (must show membership card) receive a 10% discount. Excludes sale items, power tools & Leigh jigs, CNC, Festool, and Rockler Gift Cards. Valid at Buffalo, N.Y store only.

mark@mazzofamily.com Vice President Bruce Trojan 261-7230 trojanbd@frontiernet.net Secretary Sam Tischler 586-1417 908-295-3010 tischler.sam@gmail.

8 SPONSORS FLWT members (must show membership card) receive a 10% discount. Excludes sale items, power tools & Leigh jigs, CNC, Festool, and Rockler Gift Cards. Valid at Buffalo, N.Y store only. Not valid with any other coupon FLWT Board of Directors 2014 (2015 Directors Published in January) Position Name Home Tel Cell Tel President / Chair Mark Mazzo mark@mazzofamily.com Vice President Bruce Trojan trojanbd@frontiernet.net Secretary Sam Tischler tischler.sam@gmail.com Treasurer Clifford Weatherell canoe- Librarian Gary Russell cngrussell@gmail.com Newsletter Dan Meyerhoefer dtmblue@google.com Advisor Jeffery Cheramie Advisor Ralph Mosher rmosher@rochester.rr.com 8

Finger Lakes Woodturners A Chapter of The American Association of Woodturners

Finger Lakes Woodturners A Chapter of The American Association of Woodturners Presidential Mumblings October 2017 This month we will be hosting Tom Wirsing, a National Turner. This is a joint effort with